In the face of continued global crude market disruptions, Nigeria is gearing efforts towards new markets.

Chairman, the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Wole Ogunsanya, made the revelation at the opening ceremony of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas on Monday.

He opined that Nigeria must move beyond traditional buyers and aggressively seek alternative markets to remain competitive and maximise revenue.

According to him, recent developments within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including moves by some members to act independently, signal the need for Nigeria to rethink its crude marketing strategy.

“We must start developing markets outside our traditional destinations. It is not enough to rely solely on OPEC frameworks; we need to secure buyers for our crude in a more proactive manner,” he said.

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Ogunsanya noted that Nigeria produces some of the best crude grades globally and should leverage this advantage to penetrate new markets across Africa, Europe and other regions.

He stressed that expanding market access has become even more critical as Nigeria pushes to increase oil production and support the growing capacity of domestic refineries.

“With refining capacity in Nigeria expected to ramp up significantly, we must ensure consistent supply while also identifying external markets for excess production,” he added.

The PETAN chairman said participation in OTC provides a strategic platform to engage potential investors, partners and off-takers, as well as to showcase Nigeria’s capabilities in the oil and gas sector.

He also highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration among African countries through the African Local Content initiative, which he said would support cross-border investments and market expansion.

Ogunsanya further emphasised the need for improved efficiency and adoption of modern technology to keep Nigeria’s crude competitive in the global market.

He warned that failure to secure new markets could expose the country to price volatility and reduced earnings, especially in a rapidly changing global energy landscape.

Despite challenges such as visa constraints affecting participation at this year’s OTC, he said Nigeria’s strong presence at the conference demonstrates its determination to remain a key player in the global oil and gas industry.

As crude oil deliveries bow to supply disruptions in the Middle East, oil giants, Exxon Mobil and Chevron have reported drops in profit in the first quarter of 2026 despite surging oil prices.

Exxon’s quarterly earnings fell to $4.2 billion from about $7.7 billion the same quarter last year, a decline of about 46 per cent, while Chevron’s profits fell to $2.2 billion from about $3.5 billion, down about 37 per cent. Still, both companies beat Wall Street expectations.

However, America’s two largest oil companies are still expected to eventually reap the benefits of soaring oil prices, which reached levels unseen since 2022 this week as the war in Iran continues, Reuters reported.

In a prepared statement, Exxon said that “timing effects” and volume impacts in the Middle East reduced reported earnings; when excluding those effects, the company reported $8.8 billion in profit. At Chevron, unfavourable timing effects totaled about $3 billion for the quarter, according to the company.

“One of the things that we called out in our press release was the timing,” Darren Woods, Exxon’s chair and chief executive officer, said in an interview. “As you close the quarter in the volatile market, you book the hedges, the paper, but the physical barrels are in inventory until they get delivered.

“So you get this deferred profit that we wanted to basically highlight, and make sure that our investors understood that the work that we’re actually doing to meet the demands today are resulting in benefits not necessarily booked in the quarter,” Woods added.

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At the start of the war, Donald Trump declared on Truth Social: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

Certain oil and gas companies are already reaping the benefits. BP announced that its profits more than doubled in the last quarter, crediting “exceptional oil trading” for its highest quarterly profit since 2023 – an announcement that led advocacy groups and some European finance ministers to call for greater taxes on windfall profits.

Other earnings reports indicate that it may take longer for oil companies to report clear gains. ConocoPhillips, a partner in Qatar’s state gas company, cut its forecast annual output due to disruptions in Qatar’s liquified natural gas operations caused by the war. Iranian attacks on QatarEnergy LNG’s export plant will take years to repair, state energy officials have said.

Chevron and Exxon’s stock jumped at the start of the war but eased in April as the US and Iran agreed on a ceasefire and the reopening of the strait of Hormuz. And Lockheed Martin, a key defense contractor with the federal government, initially saw its stock jump 25 per cent since the start of the year, but has since dropped to roughly the same levels.

Meanwhile, gas prices at the pump continue to climb, with the current average reaching $4.39, up from $3.187 a year ago. Americans are also facing fears of elevated inflation and slow job growth amid turmoil in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and five other OPEC+ countries increased their oil production quota on Sunday in an expected move aimed at demonstrating continuity at the cartel after the shock withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates.

The seven major producers will add 188,000 barrels per day to their total production quota for June amid the price pressure unleashed by the Mideast war, as part of “their collective commitment to support oil market stability”, according to a statement published by OPEC+.

The statement, following an online meeting of Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Russia and Saudi Arabia, made no mention of the United Arab Emirates, which quit the body on Friday, three days after announcing its withdrawal.

Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon told AFP that the silence on the UAE’s departure was a sign of tense relations.

Oil market analysts had widely expected the increase of 188,000 barrels, similar to the 206,000-barrel daily increases OPEC+ announced in both March and April when the portion allotted to the UAE was subtracted.

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“By sticking to the same production path — just minus the UAE — it’s acting as if nothing has happened, deliberately downplaying internal fractures and projecting stability,” Leon said.

Strait of Hormuz Bottleneck Remains
But raising the quota on paper may not have much impact on actual production, which is already short of the limit.
Untapped OPEC+ reserves are mainly located in the Gulf region, and exports there are trapped by the blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz, imposed by Iran in response to the US-Israeli strikes that started the war on February 28.

Leon, the Rystad Energy analyst, told AFP on Sunday that the cartel was looking to send “a two-layer message” that the UAE’s exit would not disrupt how OPEC+ operates and that the group still exerts control over global oil markets despite massive disruption to oil trade due to the war.

“While output is increasing on paper, the real impact on physical supply remains very limited given the Strait of Hormuz constraints,” Leon told AFP. “This is less about adding barrels and more about signalling that OPEC+ still calls the shots.”

The Strait of Hormuz blockade is hitting Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The latter’s production will no longer count towards OPEC quotas.

“Total OPEC+ output with quota fell to 27.68 million bpd in March, against a monthly quota of 36.73 million bpd, a shortfall of approximately 9 million bpd driven almost entirely by war-related disruption rather than voluntary restraint,” said Priya Walia, another analyst at Rystad Energy, ahead of Sunday’s meeting.

Iran, whose exports are now the target of a retaliatory US blockade, is an OPEC+ member but is not subject to quotas.

Russia, the group’s second-biggest producer, has been the main beneficiary of the situation. But despite soaring energy prices, it appears to be struggling to produce at the level of its current quotas as its own war in Ukraine drags on and Ukrainian drones hit oil industry facilities.

‘A Big Deal’
Amena Bakr, an analyst at Kpler, described the UAE’s exist as “a big deal” for OPEC.

Previous withdrawals from the group by Qatar in 2019 and Angola in 2023 were less significant by comparison, Bakr told a video conference on the UAE withdrawal.

The UAE has invested massively in infrastructure in recent years, and state-owned oil company ADNOC plans to increase output by five million barrels a day by 2027 — far above the country’s last quota of around 3.5 million barrels.

ADNOC also pledged on Sunday to spend $55 billion on new projects over the next two years, confirming that the company is “accelerating growth and delivery of its strategy”.

There is also the risk for OPEC+ that other countries will leave such as Iraq and Kazakhstan, which have faced repeated accusations of surpassing their quotas.

AFP